Los Pollos Hermanos may be under new management but that doesn’t mean the suspense was anything less than tremendous during last Sunday’s Season 5 premiere of AMC’s Breaking Bad. We were treated to an opening flash-forward of Walt’s 52nd birthday, spent alone at a Denny’s, with the ‘King of Meth’ sporting new hair, a new identity and a New Hampshire ID. Series creator Vince Gilligan has always been tight-lipped about where the show will go, but he did confirm that we’ll soon be headed to Germany, home to the multi-national corporation that funded the late-Gus Fring’s entire laundromat/meth lab operation (I hear they were great getting rid of mustard stains).

But for a show thats original premise was about a man with terminal cancer, Walt has persevered and whether or not Bryan Cranston will actually survive the series finale next year is still anybody’s guess. If Gilligan does decide to knock Walt out of the meth trade for good, how will he do it? Let’s take a look at some of the possible characters who have more than a good motive to rub Walt out in next year’s finale.

Skyler kills Walter. Ever since we saw Skyler do her best Jessica Rabbit impression while singing Happy Birthday to Ted, we knew there was some love lost between the Whites. The once-innocent housewife has successively aided and abetted Walt’s operation more and more with each season, going so far as to extort money from Ted behind Walt’s back. So does she have it in her to do away with her ex-husband? If she thought Walt Jr. and Holly’s lives were at risk, it’s conceivable she might break bad herself and pull the trigger on Heisenberg to ensure the rest of her family’s safety.

Mike kills Walter. He’s already come close so many times. And had Jesse not intervened in this Sunday’s premiere, he probably would’ve done it. Mike’s loyalty to Gus seems to extend post-mortem and even if he acts the ally to help destroy the incriminating evidence of Gus’s laptop, Mike could easily just be biding his time and go full-measure once all loose ends are tied up.

Beneke’s daughter kills Walter Thirteen years after the events of Breaking Bad, Ted Beneke’s
daughter drops out of the University of Albuquerque and learns the way of the samurai from the old Kung Fu master Hotori Hanzai in order to hunt down and kill the man she blames for paralyzing her fiscally-fraudulent father.

Jesse kills Walter We’ve been down this road before as well. This drug-dealing dyad has always been an uneasy partnership and life-or-death situations at each other’s hands has been at play since nearly the beginning. So would it be too obvious to have Walt’s former student, protege and partner be the one who finally takes him out? It’s certainly plausible. Highly likely. Especially if Jesse ever learned the horrible truth of Jane’s death, or Brock’s near-fatal poisoning.

Cancer kills Walter What we all thought was going to be the original killer of Walter White. Will Cancer rear its ugly head from remission and do away with the former chemistry teacher?

Hank kills Walter Hank Schrader has been shot, suspended, nearly paralyzed, and deliberately crashed into a car due in part to Walt’s actions. My guess is that Hank will discover the true identity of Heisenberg by season’s end and his betrayal might be enough to get him to pull that piece from its holster and unload a few rounds into his brother-in-law. Of course he also doesn’t know the lengths Walt has gone to keep him alive and walking (even if he does need crutches now).*This is what my money is on.

Walter takes advantage of New Hampshire’s low property tax rates Maybe Walt doesn’t die at all but instead reconciles with Skyler, sells the car wash and moves the family across the country with all the millions he’s earned to start a new life in the Granite State.

Walt kills Walter Guilt is a large part of the series and as evidenced in the season three episode ‘The Fly’, his crimes weigh heavily on Walt. Faced with years of incarceration, or should harm befall one of the last few remaining people he cares about, it’s very likely Walt might eat a gun and join Gale at that great big meth lab in the sky.